Remembering

Memorial Day ... A day of remembering loved ones no longer among us. Today and earlier this week my husband and I placed flowers on family graves in Black Hawk and Johnson counties.

At Oakland Cemetery near Solon in Johnson County, military flags lined the road. Often the flags are not yet in place when we arrive there, but we were fortunate since we came today.

My family is buried at Oakland, but it is only my mother and maternal grandparents that are honored with a visit. The flag next to my mom's stone is in memory of my father, A. Paul Orrick. He donated his body to science and we have never got around to having a memorial stone placed for him.

Here is a picture of him as a young man at Hunter Airport in southwest Cedar Rapids. My dad was born March 7, 1910. He died May 27, 1974. He served in the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps during World War II (1941-1945). His overseas duty was in the China-Burma-India Theater from July 1944 to November 1945. A staff sergeant, he was stationed with the 2059th Ordnance Section at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Fla.

The remaining pictures are gravestones from the Cedar Falls and Waterloo area of Black Hawk County and include my husband's mom and dad and maternal and paternal grandparents.





Memorial Day was instituted in this country a long time ago, to pay tribute to our war dead during the Civil War. Memorial Day of recent times have come to pay tribute to all who have died, not just those serving in the armed forces.

Earlier this week when I first started thinking about writing something about this day, it dawned on me that the idea of showing honor to another began way back in Jesus' day.

Matthew 26: 13 says, "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, had brought an alabaster jar of costly fragrant oil, and, as a sign of honor and tribute, poured it on the head of Jesus, when he was in Bethany before Passover. Jesus' disciples were indignant at such waste, saying it could have been sold and used for the poor. But Jesus rebuked them, saying what Mary had done was a good work, that she did it for his burial.

Matthew 15:4 says, "For God commanded, saying 'Honor your father and your mother.' "


1 Peter 2:17 says, "Honor all people."

Memorial Day is about remembering, paying tribute, honoring their lives. The good times, the bad times, the sad times, the happy times, every time.

Lets remember to honor God the Father and Jesus His Son as well.